Xmas 2009 Now Over

To family (Uncle Fred & cousins in B.C. & cousin Kathy & her family in Michigan) & friends, I hope you've all had a great xmas.

We, Mike & I spent Xmas Eve with our family at my mothers. Xmas day, we packed up presents and headed over to my sisters.

The Xmas tree in all its glory.

My mother's husband Wilf enjoys carving, creating different native ducks. Here's the one Connor received (Oh My! I can't remember what kind it is), we got a swan ... will have to take pictures of it.

The family dinner table ... l-r; Connor, Mike, Al, Alex, Wilf, Mom, Karen. A good time was had by all, with several taking a snooze after dinner .... wonder why? (smile)

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Post Ice Storm Beauty

Just wanted to share some of the pictures I took 2 days after our ice storm. The skies cleared, we had a slightly lower than freezing drop in temperature, plus there was a light dusting of snow over night.
The existing water/ice froze, then the trees got a dusting of snow. This is one of our lawn shrubs all sparklie.By noon the sun was strong enough that where it hit it was melting the ice/snow. Those trees more heavily hit were like white lights as they shone through the sun.

Looking way up, here's one of our taller trees by our driveway.The trees that were in the shade were keeping their frosty, frozen icicle look.

We then went into a deep freeze, temperatures down around -20C, -27C with the windchill. Today it is starting to moderate with temps going just above 0C this weekend.

It's been a hard time for the dogs as their time outside was limited with the paw freezing temps.

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Shades of the Ice Storm In January 1998

Yesterday, mid afternoon to late evening, Mike and I spent it with the fire place going to heat the house, candles to light our way, and flashlights in hand. We got hit with an ice storm that caused our power to go out for, guess well over 5 hours. Mike tried to keep the deck cleared so the 'house mice' could go out safely, but needless to say the dogs didn't spend much time outside.

The temperature was just such that as the rain fell it was freezing in some spots, others creating ice and thawing in others. This was a big icicle hanging down the back of our house.

The deck seating with its own Christmas display.

Today, Monday I went over to my sisters ... here's the view of part of our road. A frosty, icy, still cloudy day. The main roads were fine for driving as the temp wasn't that low. The sun has been trying to peek out, but not yet in our part of town.

The shrubs along the road with their own twinkle.

The pine trees laden with ice on their branches.

Inside, my Bouganvillia still wants to bloom!

Our driveway, well the end has now been plowed of its foot high mound of ice & snow that the main street plow left, the rest will have to wait till it freezes or thaws or we'll loose a ton of gravel.

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Wishes From Our Clients

The Holiday Season brings with it our clients sending greetings & photos of their cherished Shelamo dogs. Greetings from the Jamieson family - BPIS Ch "Windsor" & "Wall-E" enjoying their favourite spot at the cottage.

From the Charron family, a commissioned hand drawn portrait of their
"Jazz" & "Cheyenne", by C. Shannon of Toronto.

Jane McLaren's boy "Shadow" with the 1st fluffy snowfall of 2009.

Received this from the Daigle family - an e-card made for their three year old neighbour who adores Duke!

"Scout" owned by the Sheir family. He was part of the 1st litter we had when we moved into this home 3 years ago. I hear he will be training for Therapy work in the New Year.

"Tia" who is adored by her new owners, the Charwuns. I think she's claimed her spot!

All the best to all our clients who make up our extended Shelamo family!

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SantaPaws Is Coming To The Davidson's

From left to right is - Rush, Sadie and Harley

What a lovely sheltie xmas picture I just received from good friend Marylou Davidson! These three are all ready for SantaPaws. I think they've been good this year.

I just have to say, how many times do I ask my dog obedience class, 'when would you use a 'such & such' command?'. Here is one of the best reasons ... sit/stay! and SMILE ...

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Holiday Safety Tips for Our Canine Friends

It's the festive time of year for many of us, and with it comes keeping our pets safe. There are some different items we bring into our home, which we need to take heed with our furry friends around. The one we all know of is chocolate, and in the festive season we forget the dog is loose during those entertaining times and we are likely to have food on tables that are at nose level. The bridge mix, those coconut chocolate balls (at least I remember my mom making them), and all those speciality chocolates our guests might bring, that may also contain raisins, we need to remember where they get laid and that our dogs can't get into them.

The tree is decorated with tinsel & ornaments (that can break into small pieces), which can cause real serious stomach issues if your dog decides it is something fun to play with and ingests it.

The pretty Christmas plants, like Poinsettias, mistletoe berries, and Christmas Cactus can all cause serious stomach upsets.

Keep them safe with visitors arriving. It only takes a moment for them to dash out under family/friends arriving with Xmas gift bags, so consider either crating them or tie them to a banister or couch until everyone is in the house. Ask your guests not to feed your dog, or offer them a sip of their alcoholic drink ... a drunk dog isn't funny, and could potentially send them into a coma. Remember you're going to be the one cleaning up after your dog, or facing an emergency trip to your vet. If your guests must offer your dog treats, have a special bowl set aside with special treats just for your dog.

Make sure any gifts that might contain food aren't put under the tree tempting your pooch to open them ahead of time! Ensure you clean up wrapping, ribbons etc after the festive day so nothing is consumed.

Lastly, it might sound funny, but those ladies with their purses on the floor or kids with it in their pockets ... gum is what I'm talking about. A lot of sugar-less gum now containing xylitol. Just 2 pieces for a 13lb dog can send them into insulin shock/hypoglycemia pretty quickly along with liver damage, and if medical help isn't sought fast, it is deadly.

Please, keep your dog in mind during this festive season .....

and you'll have a happy time with your best bud.

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16 with a G1 License

YIKES! He's SIXTEEN already! Last nite, our family got together to celebrate our nephew's 16th birthday. He also passed his G1 Driver's License, so look OUT Ottawa!

Left - Mike, Alexander, Al & Karen; foreground my mother's husband Wilf, then me.

Back row - Connor, Mom, me and Wilf.

Alexander now has a digital camera to capture his own memories.

Gosh I remember at this age a box camera was what we wished for ... humm think I still have mine boxed away somewhere ... have times changed that quickly? Guess so. No more thick photo albums to find space for, no more negatives to keep track of, just file folders on hard drives and now LCD digital photo frames that one can hang on the wall and watch hourly if one chooses as the memories scroll by.

Now it takes a computer wiiizzzz, endless wires, electrical hook-ups, not nimble fingers that handle negatives or those black triangle sticky corners to hold the pictures in place. That was so simple, wasn't it?

A G1 license, rather than a permit we used to call it, has a whole lot more stipulations and can take 8-10 months before you pass the requirements to graduate to a G2 license. With this G1 the new driver can't drive on roads over 80 k/h (or as we call them in Canada 400 series), not drive between 12 am - 5am (think those are the hours), not carry any passengers other than the G licensed driver training them, nor ever have any alcohol. A big difference from my days, altho I can't agree more with the requirements.

Times are a changing ... just where will we see ourselves in another 20 yrs?

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Casper - Gone But Not Forgotten

It was not easy .... this evening my sister Karen, husband Al, boys Connor & Alexander had to make a selfless decision to see their boy Ch Shelamo's Heavenly Ghost, "Casper", go over the Rainbow Bridge.

January 25, 2000 - December 1, 2009

He was diagnosed just within the last few weeks with a very aggressive, rare form of a blood based tumor. This past weekend he started to decline considerably.

"Casper" was an easy going, friendly and intelligent boy, always wanting to be where his family was. He sat at many a football game, soccer game and just loved the camping trips.

He was an ambassador of our breed, to which many of our clients came to us, simply because they had seen the boys with their 'friend' playing in the neighbourhood parks.

He was a grandson of our Ch Watch Out For Black Ice, who was our 1st female with which we started our kennel.

We will deeply miss our "Friendly Ghost".

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Family Get Together Sunday - Grey Cup 2009

Go men in GREEN!!!

It's now become a yearly event at my mother & her husband's place for the families on both sides to enjoy the Grey Cup game together.

Brother-in-law Tim did up his mustache, as did my mom's husband ... never too old to have FUN!

Nephew Connor got into the act. One shouldn't do their own face painting in a mirror; you'd read it as Roughriders Saskatchewan, rather than the Saskatchewan Roughriders.. lol ...

Food was great. Pizza, chicken wings, dips - mom made our longtime fav, cheeses, crackers, choclate coated prezzles! adictive or what! apple pie, apple crisp, peacan pie and of course plenty of your choice, to drink.

Besides myself not in any of these pictures, there are another 5 people that must have been upstairs ... What a game, Montreal won in the dying second, literally!

Every family has a dog too! Tho only my side has shelties.

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Do You Know? Do You Have?

Do you know what a dog's normal temperature should be???? Lately I've come across more dog owners that do not. Do you have a thermometer just for taking your dog's temperature ... bet you don't!

It's a cheap way of knowing some of the 1st signs if your dog is not well and it should be one of the tools you have in your First Aid Kit for your dog. A temperature too high, signs of infection, somewhere, too low your dog may be going into shock, be dehydrated ... low temperature usually means the dog's body is trying to keep the vital organs safe & warm for some reason.

So what is normal? It's 101.5 F or 38.6C. Too high starts around 102.5 F or 39.1 C. On the low side 100.5 or 38.0 C. Both these high and lows are usually seen when the dog is exhibiting other signs.

If you don't have a thermometer just for your dog, I strongly suggest if you're reading this you consider a stop at a drug store in the near future. You can pick simple ones up for $10.00 - $12.00. I personally like the digital beep ones with the soft tips

Just as of today (which is prompting me to write this), one family has visited 6 different drug stores and none can be found! Why? the stores can't keep them in stock with the H1N1 flu we are experiencing!

How do you take their temperature ? ... it's done rectally just as you would with a young child.

Now that you know ... go and practise too. Find out over several weeks what your dog's normal temperature is.

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Vista's Puppies Are Here!

We're pleased to announce that our Ch Stone Mills Vista At Shelamo delivered a lovely litter of 6, 4 girls and 2 boys for Margaret Pratt of Sharrow Shelties on November 23. She delivered them all within 21/2 hours! Margaret leased her for this litter and will likely be seeing me more often now ... luckily she's only about 10 minutes from us. Margaret ... keep the coffee on!

Pups are only 12 hours old ... don't ask me which ones are the boys or the girls! We didn't disturb them each time there was a photo opt to find out! Here's a picture I took at ringside of the sire at the Ottawa Kennel Club Show this past weekend. He is Am/Cdn Ch Barwoods Jana JFK owned by Nick Joines & Joel McCarty of the USA and shown by Cheryl Pike of MacLaren Shelties in Canada. He went BOB two of the days, plus a Group 2nd.

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Ottawa Kennel Club Show - CSSA Booster

This past weekend the Ottawa Kennel Club held its fall show in Kemptville. There were two sheltie boosters, one for the CC&SSA on Saturday and on Sunday we held our CSSA East Ont/PQ one. Our judge was respected, breeder judge Leslie Rogers from B.C. This booster was organized by Michael (yes, my husband) as he is the present CSSA Director for this area.

Prizes were bagged in the winning colours by our friend Mary-Anne for Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex, Best of Winners, Best Puppy In Breed, Winners & Reserve Winners Male & Winners & Reserve Winners Bitch, along with the extras sponsored by Purina.Wagon of Purina goodie bags for the exhibitors.

Ch Blue Merle female waiting her turn for the Best of Breed competition.

The Best of Breed lineup, with Winners Bitch just finishing her down and back.

Leslie Rogers had each of the Best of Breed competitors do what we call 'Grand Standing' so he could evaluate each dog at a distance, on its own, for such things as over all balance. Final line-up with judge Leslie Rogers.

(l to r) Best of Breed (a male), Best of Opposite Sex (a female), and Best of Winners (a male). Best Puppy In Breed was a sable girl which unfortunately I don't have pictures of.

I was scooted out of the ring for taking pictures which (I didn't know) is only allowed by the Show Photographer. These were the best pictures that weren't blurry & that had all the exhibitors together at the end.

AND

The winner of the raffle, a 11" LCD Alurateck Digital Photo Frame, drawn at the end of Group judging by judge Leslie Rogers ... was ..... drum roll please ... Peter Culumovic of Laureate Shelties!!!

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Trixie Pups Getting More Mobile

"Trixie's" pups are getting more mobile by the hour! Their 'output' is also, and mom can't keep up with all of it ... smile ... oh the joys of raising pups! So yesterday I figured it was time to break down their whelping box area so they could start to travel to a potty area. They took to it well, travelling back and forth to their papered area (can't see it in this pic but the tri girl in the front of the photo is headed there).

They will be 4 wks on Saturday and with their puppy teeth starting to show it is time to add puppy mush to their diet. Oh, should that be fun, as they plow thru their first meal! They will now learn the clink clank of their metal feeding bowl and we'll really get to know what kind of 'voices' they have.

"Mom's" job, is just about over, now we humans have to kick into high gear in all aspects of raising them.

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Summer Dirt - A Fall Clean-up

After a summer of street walking in Ottawa, it was time for these 2 to get their fall clean-up. "Toffee" on the left is a sister to our "Opal" (they are 11.5yrs of age), and on the right is "Sheena" a "Rocky" daughter. These 2 cuties are owned by the Cutler family.

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Remembering - On Our 100th Post

It's now 11 am on Nov 11th, Remembering ..... those that have gone before us for freedom around the world.

Lest Us Forget

and our 100th post.

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New Flooring - Bit Of This Bit Of That

This past weekend was spent putting our "Canine Suite" back together. We needed extra muscles, to say the least! Besides all the computer 'stuff', filing cabinets, bookcase, a fridge and freezer, a couch, Mike & I couldn't do it ourselves ... age you know.

Here's what our living room & kitchen looked like through-out the renos.

Friday evening, Saturday & Sunday we enlisted help. Here is the start of our computer room with Travis doing the connecting under the desks. Time, nor trying to find where I'd set the camera didn't lend itself to taking many more.

Sunday our 2 nephews helped. Once done, it was puppy play time. Alexander holding the Trixie pups that were 3 wks old.My sister & her husband came out for dinner; Karen with the bi-black girl and her 'look-alike' stuffed dog. OK, the stuffed one has a bit more white!

Last night, now just over 3 wks, the pups got to christen the new floor in the puppy room. That's a back end slipping, not an 'accident' happening.

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Just For Fun - Herding

When sheepherders want to have fun .... check out this link!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=17075685001

Amazing Border Collies at work and play.

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Trixie's Pups, Today Are 3 wks Old

Many have asked as to how Trixie's pups are doing, and wanted pics but with not being on high speed it just didn't lend itself to sending pics to everyone. They are 3 wks old today. Last Thursday night we found time to take a few pics. Here is one of the 3 of them, which I think will be the last time I can handle all 3 together in my hands as the blue boy is a porker at just over 2 lbs, with the other 2 girls closing in the 2lb mark. Their weights are beginning to spread out more and more with their age. It's been awhile since we've had an AOAC litter, so it will be a learning curve in capturing the faces of the two black girls.

They are now starting to mouth each other, trying to stand up and little barks when mom doesn't get in the box to feed them on time.

Must get back to real work, that of moving all our STUFF back into our 'Canine Suite' after its reno.

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